Kestra Advisory Services LLC Purchases 15,610 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 11.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 157,262 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,610 shares during the quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $20,659,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BX. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 36.6% during the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 36,215 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,741,000 after buying an additional 9,699 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Blackstone by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 367,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $48,158,000 after purchasing an additional 28,856 shares during the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 0.8% in the first quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 20,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,649,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Blackstone by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 254,099 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $33,267,000 after purchasing an additional 20,830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norden Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2,072.0% in the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 36,555 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,802,000 after buying an additional 34,872 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 34,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $119.48 per share, for a total transaction of $26,166.12. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 34,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,115,488.60. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $127.56.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX traded up $1.98 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $142.00. The stock had a trading volume of 3,262,890 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,826,148. The company’s 50-day moving average is $125.80 and its 200 day moving average is $125.02. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.59 and a 12-month high of $145.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market capitalization of $101.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.50.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 5th. Investors of record on Monday, July 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 117.31%.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc is an alternative asset management firm specializing in real estate, private equity, hedge fund solutions, credit, secondary funds of funds, public debt and equity and multi-asset class strategies. The firm typically invests in early-stage companies. It also provide capital markets services.